Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-26
change had come, "Sir, 1 feel just as
though 1 were somebody else"


he was in port he was worse than when
he was on the sea. What power was It
that washed his tongue clean Of profan-
tiles, and made him q psalm. singer? Con-
version by the Holy Spirit. There are
thousands Of people in this house to-
night who are no more what they once
were than q water-lily is nightshade, or q
morning lark is G vulture, or day is night
Now, if l should demand that all those
people in this house who have felt the
converting power of religion should rise,
so fer from being ashamed, they would
spring to their feet with more alacrity
than they ever sprang to the dance, the
tears mingling with their exhilerasicn as
they cried: ave are Witnesses" And
if they tried to sing the old gospel hymn
they would break down with emotion BY
the time they got TO the second line:
Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend
On whom M hopes OF heeYen depend
No When / blush be this my shame;
That l no more revere His name
Again, remark that "we are wit
aesses" of the gospels power to com
| fort
When man has trouble the world
comes in and says: "No8 get your
mind Of this; go out and breathe the
fresh air; plunge deeper into business"
What poor advice. Get your mind of OF
il, when everything Is upturned with the
bereavement, and everything reminds
you of Whist you have lost Get you!
mind off of it! Trey might SIS
well advise you to stop think
ing. You can not stop thinking, ard
you cannot stop thinking in that cirec.
ton. Take walk in the fresh air,
| Why, alOpg that very street, or that very
road, she once accompanied you. Ont OF
that grass plot she plucked flowers, OF
into that show window she looked, fas.
cinated, saying: "Come see the pic
lures" Go deeper into business. Why,
she was associated with all your business
ambition, aud since she hiss gone you
have no ambition left
"Oh, this is a clumsy world when il
/ tries TO comfort broken heart, | can
build q Corliss engine, I can paint q
! Riphaels "Medonna," l can play a
BeethoYen's "Symphony" as easily as
/ this world can comfort broken heart.
| And yet you have been comforted. How
was it done? Did Christ come 10 you
and say: "Get your mind Of this; 90
out and breathe the fresh air; plunge
deeper into busiuess?" No There w.s
minute when He came to yUu-perhsps
! in
THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT,
perhaps III your place OF business, per.
! haps along the street-srd He breathed
something into your soul that gave peace,
rest, initiate quiet, SO that you could
take out the Photograph Of The departed
one gnd look in.o the eyes ard the face
! ,f ;r,
right; she il better off; | would not c&li
her bkck. Lord, l thank Thee ttat Thou
hast cOmfortad my poor heart"
There are Cbristi&n parents here wac
! sre willing 10 testify to th4 power Of this
Gospel TO comfort. Your son Asd just
graduated from school or Colle6e and was
going into business, and the Lord took
him. Or your daughter had Just grad
uated from the yGuag ladies' seminary,
and you thought she was g i1g to be g
useful woman and OF long life; bu. the
Lord took heT, and you We're tempted tC
say: "All this culture OF twenty years fo1
nothing" Or the little child came home
! from school with the hot fever that stop
ped not for the agonized prayer orfOr the
! skillful physician, and the little child was
taken. Or the babe Was lifted out ofyoul
arms by some quick epidemic, and you
stood wondering why God ever gave you
that child 1T all, if SO soon He wss 10
take it away. And yet you are not repin-
! ing, you are not fretiul, you are not fight
ing against COD.
What has enabled you to stand all the
trial? "Oh," you say, 81 took the medi-
cine that God gave my sick soul
In my distress I threw myself at
the feet OF a sympathizlng God; and when
was too weak to pray, or to look up, He
breatted into me a pesce that l THINK
must be the foretaste OF that heaven where
! there is neither tear, nor farewell, mol
a grave" Come, all We who have been
out to the grave to weep there-COme, ell
ye comforted souls, get up off your knees
Is there no power in this gospel TO sGOthc
the heart? Is there no power IL this re-
ligion to quiet the worst paroxysm OF
grief? There comes up sn answer from
comforted widowhood, snd orphanage,
end cnildlessness, saying: "Aye, aye, we
! are Witnesses"
! Again, / remark that we are witnesses
OF the fact that religion has power to give
c0mposure in the last moment. | shall
never forget the first time confronted
death. We went across the cornfelds il
! the country. | was led by my fathers
hand and we came to the farmhouse where
| the bereavement had come, and re saw
| the crowd of wagons and carriages; but
there was enc Csrriag9 taat especially st
tracted my boyish attention, and il had
BLACK PLUMES.
/ | said "WhaL'5 tnst? What's that:
| Why those black tsssels 81 the top?" and
after il YVES explained to me l vas lifted
up to look upon the tece Of an aged
! Christian woman, who had three days be-
fore departed in triumph. TIE whole
scene made an impression | never forgot
In our sermons and IN our lay eXlOrta-
tions we are very apt when we want &c
bring Illustrations OF dying triumph to &C
back to some dlstin guished personag2-tC
John Knox or Harriet Newell. But
wan. you for witnesses.
want to know If you have ever seen
anything to make you believe that the re
ligion Of Christ can give compoGure il
the final hour. Now, in the courts, st
torney, Jury and judge will never admit
mere hearssy. The demsnd nat tie wit
ness must have seen with his own eyes
or heard with his own ears, and so l Ell
critical in my examination Of you now;
and | want to know whether you have
seen or heard anything that makes ycu
believe that the religion OF Christ give:
composure in the final hour.
'Oh, yes" you say, 81 saw my fathel
and mother depart. There was great
difference in their desth-beds. Standing
by the ore We felt more veneration. By
the other, there YVES more tendarness.'
Before the one, you bowed perhaps il
swe. In the other case, you felt as j! YOU
| Mnrld Like % GA slnnn with hi. uAH